It’s been a tough few days for the media, far harder than any other election cycle we have ever experienced. Never has the media been forced to fact check so many statements, to delve so deep into the archives – their own and those of others – to sift through leaked and falsified documents, to keep up with the mood on the hustings, in the street and in every single backroom debate preparation room. I don’t doubt for one moment that coffee shares are going to hit a high before this campaign ends in November.

And while everyone is trying to ensure that what the produce – what is printed or published on the Internet – beats the competition and attracts more subscribers, more viewers, more attention, it is the little things which are going to slip through.

Screenshot Source: Twitter / Washington Post

Understandable, when a deadline has to be brought forward or, suddenly, information is received which changes the overall message needed in a new article, a visual report. The occasional spelling mistake, a name not quite right, signs of hurry where every second counts. The stories are changing so fast, being enhanced with new revelations, with polls, with facts, fictions, statistics, interviews, that it is easy enough to forget to change a graphic.

The Washington Post has fallen foul of this, and I cannot say that I find it surprising. Their work of late has been so hectic, and so intensely revealing, that the odd faux pas can creep in.

But perhaps, by the time you get to see this post, they’ll have deleted the original and published a new Tweet advertising the debate tonight; one with the presidential candidates and how to watch them, rather than the second runners. Corrections are all part of the story too.